


iron and steel

by nightcircus



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Adorable Huening Kai, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Androids, Fluff, Human Kang Taehyun, M/M, Mentioned Jeon Jungkook, Robot Feels, Robot/Human Relationships, Taegyu best friends, Whipped Huening Kai, beomgyu is a good friend, hueningkai is the cutest android, robot falling in love with a human, side yeonbin, tyunning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightcircus/pseuds/nightcircus
Summary: Kai’s words were simple, essential, still the only thing he wished for, in that moment, was to be able to put a hand in his own chest, to stop his heart from beating that fast. Kai, on the other hand, really wished to give himself a reason why his inside felt so warm.
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun, Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 8
Kudos: 73





	iron and steel

**Author's Note:**

> hello ♡  
> before we start i would like to say this au was heavily inspired by this prompt i found on twt [(click here)](https://twitter.com/tyunningprint/status/1216307141063000064?s=20)  
> EDIT: the first few lines were slightly modified because they were percieved as offensive and i absolutely don't want such a thing ,,

South Korea being technologically advanced was a certainty in everyone’s mind: despite global development being extremely fast, the country never had trouble in catching up with other countries, surpassing them in  any kind of  field. This being known, no one could have ever foreseen what had happened in the latest years.

Humanity had been trying to create androids for ages, artificial intelligence able to integrate between common people and make their life easier or better. However they failed many and many times, maybe too afraid to try and reach an unpredictable “next step”:  but Korea succeeded, and was able to create a great range of androids, better ones, able to empathize human thoughts and act and move on their own, even though always controlled by complex control programs. In such a developed society as the korean one was, the idea immediately resulted in admiration and success, making the androids a new official part of the social system; despite this, as it always happens for everything, a group of people still was very skeptical about welcoming a “free-will-equipped machine”in their house and in their own life.

Kang Taehyun  was one of these people .

How a machine could be able to think with such freedom, understand human mind (which is, of course, the most difficult “machine” ever, so difficult human themselves were still studying it), this was a real mystery for him. And even if it were possible, he would have never considered a machine as an “equal being”, basing on the fact that human have something all living creature, robots not included, could only wish for: feelings. “A bunch of steel and iron will never be able to prove something so hard, complicated and irrational”, he logically explained, speaking with his best friend, Beomgyu, a day where the topic was finally brought to light.

“I think Yeonjun has feelings for Soobin.” in fact, spoke the older, leaving Taehyun pretty confused. “Yeonjun as in you android Yeonjun and Soobin as in your older brother Soobin?” he asked speechless, surprised in seeing his best friend nodding, to which Taehyun answered using the already read “bunch of steel” quote.

“I don’t know Tae, they say they’re not programmed to feel actual human emotions, still Yeonjun is programmed to be always happy and cheerful, but everytime Soobin is around at home he completely changes, shuts up or stutters, he gets all red like a tomato, you should see him.” the boy explained, in a not-less confused tone, turning in the younger’s direction.

“Why don’t you ask for one of those for your birthday? Isn’t it this month? If you don’t like it, you can send it back after a month anyway and ask for your money back.” 

“Absolutely not.” the boy answered firmly but immediately sweetened by his friend’s kind words: “Tae, you know I would never suggest you anything bad, right? Since Jungkook left you lost that sparkle in your eyes, the natural joy you always had, you always sound like a grumpy old man. So please, can you at least give it a chance? For me?” Beomgyu asked with such a sweet tone, he simply could not say anything back.

He knew that, he knew that since his hyung left he wasn’t the same , but what could he do? Jungkook was his first love, the first one he was brave enough to confess to and that damn scholarship for a dance academy in Los Angeles ruined everything, separating them all of a sudden. Neither of them was brave enough to keep a long-distance relationship and that was fine, it was the right choice and they both knew that. Still the pain remained.

Maybe Beomgyu’s idea was not that bad: a new friend was too much to ask for maybe, but a confessor, someone who could listen, someone who wouldn’t judge him. “Who knows” he thought “maybe this idea is not that bad.”.

→♥←

When his birthday came, a huge box was left in front of his door.

The young boy questioned his choice for a second, but then realized it was too late to go back. “It’s too late now.” he said himself, trying to stay calm while he opened the huge rectangular box: the android inside had the best facial features he had objectively ever seen, he had something angelic, not even korean or asian. “Well, it costs a lot, indeed.” he said with determination, observing it with a strange feeling in the stomach. As soon as it was out of the box, Taehyun searched for the power button, easily finding it behind the robot’s neck, waiting for it to turn on.

The mechanic guy slowly opened his (or its?) eyes, stretching and having a look around the room, giving Taehyun the warmest smile. “Greetings, I am unit HU3N1NGK41 but you can call me Huening Kai. What is your name?” he asked full of curiosity, the human having his attention. “Taehyun. Kang Taehyun.” he answered with a confidence that was merely a mask, his body almost trembling.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Taehyun.” he greeted, standing up, revealing himself as much taller than Taehyun was. “How old are you? In human years, of course. I am 18, or at least I think so, I guess I was born like this.” he admitted, with what looked like a bit of embarrassment. 

Taehyun couldn’t help but smile a bit, a hand on his lips, trying to hide it: “Me too, we’re the same age then. We can talk informally, right, Kai?” he asked, approaching the big box “Help me throwing it in the trash, please.” he said, slightly embarrassed. He wondered if he would ever get used to it.

The first days were a bit difficult, in the end it was like growing a big baby but Kai was a really good guy and Taehyun couldn’t help but start caring about him, just a bit though. If he had to describe the things between them, it was like taking care of a Pokémon you train everyday: Kai kept getting better at things and he learned rapidly every room in the house, human habits and other little things.

**First week**

“Wow, Kai you’re really gorgeous.” Beomgyu pointed out the very first time, about ten days later when he and Taehyun decided to hang out to introduce Kai to Yeonjun, who already adopted Kai and chose him as his new brother. 

“You don’t seem to mind that much.” the older teased Taehyun “You already look really close” he went on, laughing a bit.

“He’s not that bad. Even though I feel like I am raising a baby in a teenager body, Kai is pretty fast at learning and he’s very calm, it doesn’t create much problems. He likes to study together and learn new stuff, if he discovers a new word he keeps repeating it until he doesn’t figure out how to use it properly. He loves plushies, he calls them “squishy babies” and he sucks at maths, can you believe that? I thought a robot would be some kind of calculator or whatever.” he explained smiling, staring at the two androids chasing each other while playing.

“Oh, my God.” he heard Beomgyu whispering, turning his face to look at the other “You like him.” the older said astonished, making Taehyun almost choke on air at those words “What the hell? No, of course I don’t. He’s still a bunch of iron and steel.” the younger answered, still blushing furiously. Before he could say anything else, the two androids came back, and Kai’s first instinct was to hug his “owner” happily smiling.

“Taehyunie, can we do this again? I want to play again with hyung, he’s funny! Hyung is very.. how was it? Ah, yeah, ‘cool’. Did I use it correctly?” his cheerfulness made everyone’s heart melt in a second, making them laugh loudly, leaving the poos android a bit confused. When they had to go home, while the two androids were still commenting the day, Beomgyu talked with his friend alone: “Tae, seriously. I know that look in your eyes whenever you look at him, you only had this once and we both know when. It’s not wrong but you have to think carefully about that.” was the advice he gave him, before leaving. It was not that Beomgyu was wrong, absolutely, but at least once in a lifetime he wanted to avoid overthinking about stuff.

→♥←

“Taetae, may I ask you a question?” the android spoke some days later, while the human was studying, “Of course.”.

“What does it mean to be in love?” Taehyun’s pen froze on the paper “Yeonjun hyung said he’s in love with this Soobin hyung, but I can’t really understand what he means. He said that, for example, he loves his smile and wants to always make him smile, but then shouldn’t we all love each other? Isn’t it good if people smile?” 

“Well, you’re not wrong.” Taehyun answered, thinking about what kind of answer he should give him. “Love is maybe the most difficult idea in human mind, I don’t expect you to understand that, even humans can’t. You know you love someone because that one person makes you feel special, they make you happy and you would always wish to be better for them, you miss them when you’re not with them and when they are, you wish you can stay with them longer. Just hearing their names makes you happy and makes you smile. But it’s not always like this. Sometimes, love makes you suffer, because maybe you like someone who’s not made for you, or because that one person doesn’t love you back. I don’t really know how to explain it, let’s say in a group of friends you would easily tell who’s just a friend and someone you look at “in different way”, that’s what human say, write it down if you like. You can also use “to have butterfly in your stomach”.” the android listen carefully.

“Have you ever been in love?” silence “Yes, once.” 

“Why are you not together then?”

“Because he left, went far away, and distance hurt too much. We couldn’t handle it, but it was better this way. It’s fair to wish your beloved one to be near. Sometimes I felt lonely, but I know I did the right thing.” he explained, his back facing the robot, who slowly hugged him from behind. 

“You’re not alone anymore. I know I can’t understand what you feel, not that well at least, but I would never leave you alone.” he whispered and Taehyun knew he meant it. Kai’s words were simple, essential, still the only thing he wished for, in that moment, was to be able to put a hand in his own chest, to stop his heart from beating that fast. 

Kai, on the other hand, really wished to give himself a reason why his inside felt so warm.

**Second week**

“I’m home!” Taehyun screamed, leaving his shoes behind as soon as he closed the door behind, smiling when he saw Kai coming from the kitchen.

“Welcome back! Here, come, you should see this.” he greeted him, taking his hand and rushing to the kitchen, covering his eyes to surprise him. When he removed those, a wonderful dinner was there, in front of the human’s surprised eyes.

“Oh God, did you make this? That’s great!” he said happily, smiling when he saw the android satisfied look “I did it all on my own! I just followed the food instructions!”.

“Those are called recipes, Hyuka. Still, great job.” he said smiling, Kai tilting his head confused “Hyuka? What does that mean?” he wondered. “Oh, it’s just a nickname. Hyu as in Huening and Ka as in Kai.” he explained, somehow embarrassed.

“Oh, i like that, it’s cute. I should find a funny one for you, Taetae sounds too easy.” the taller promised, making the human laugh. Kai loved seeing Taehyun lips curved in a smile, he didn’t know why. He wasn’t programmed for that, but he still wanted to make him smile forever. He couldn’t ignore that strange sensation he felt whenever Taehyun was nearby, or what he felt whenever he found his eyes staring at the human doing basically anything: he knew he wasn’t programmed for that, either. But the look in Taehyun’s eyes, glowing happily in front of that dinner he made, caused Kai’s mechanic heart ‘to do a backflip’, as Yeonjun hyung always said while talking about Soobin. Kai now could understand.

In that precise moment, God knew why, Kai understood he had fallen in love with Taehyun. 

→♥←

“Okay guys, we should play together.” Yeonjun suggested, one night where they were all sleeping at Beomgyu’s, “Are you suggesting anything?” the owner asked breaking the silence that followed his android’s question.

“Kai, do you know what Truth or Dare is?” he asked and if eyes could kill, Taehyun would have been a murderer. The youngest, of course, looked at his master in confusion but before he could answer, Yeonjun spoke again “Simply in turns someone will ask you either Truth or Dare, if you choose Truth you have to answer honestly any question they ask, if Dare you have to do anything they ask you to do.” Kai looked, of course, confused but accepted anyway.

At first the game was funny, of course, they all had a lot of fun revealing bad stuff Beomgyu did in school or secrets they never confessed, like Taehyun being afraid of bugs while acting all cool. But, of course, the risk is always behind the corner.

“Kai, truth or dare?” Yeonjun asked this time, smiling in a evil way when the other android answered ‘Dare’. “Let’s go with a classic: I dare you to kiss the most handsome guy in the room” Yeonjun said, proud of himself. Taehyun was about to reply that he shouldn’t do this kind of dares, but he couldn’t even open hi mouth that he felt hands on his cheeks and before he could even notice Kai’s lips were pressed against his, kissing him.

Kai then separated them, as if anything had happened, but shyly looking away: “Yeonjun, you shouldn’t force him to do this kind of stuff.” Taehyun tried to say, looking at both the android and his owner, Beomgyu speaking with a smile “Well, he didn’t exactly force him, and it’s just a dare anyway, isn’t it?” he asked winking: only after his words Taehyun realized Yeonjun never mentioned a kiss on the lips.

→♥←

Days after Kai kept pretending like everything was fine, Taehyun envied him for being this calm. He kept on and on thinking about why of all the places Kai had kissed him in that specific place, and couldn’t find a answer. “He’s just iron and steel” he repeated himself, even when he decided to confront the android.

“We should talk about the kiss.” he said all of a sudden, both on the sofa watching tv, Kai looked at him confused “Why so?” the robot wondered, nothing unusual.

“Well, it was your first kiss of course, you could have wished for something better. Also you know you should only kiss on the lips the one you love, you don’t go out and kiss random people.” he explained, and before he could notice, Kai was very close to him.

“Who says I don’t?” he asked “Who says you don’t what? Go out and kiss random people?”

“No. Who says I don’t love you.” silence.

As soon as Kai let these words out of his mouth, the remote control Taehyun was holding in his hand fell on the floor and the human ran away to his room. Kai felt like he did something wrong, but he didn’t know what: usually people in drama say they love each other, so why was he rejected? He really wished he could understand humans.

**Third week**

Taehyun had been avoiding Kai for something like a week.

He only went out to use the bathroom, to cook himself something and whenever he saw Kai he avoided his eyes, running back to his room. He knew Kai wouldn’t mind. “Robots don’t have feelings, he just thinks he loves me. He can’t be in love with me, why should he? How could he? He’s just made of iron and steel, he has no heart.” he repeated himself, over and over again. Or at least that’s what he wanted to believe.

He could hear his steps at his door, waiting for something, every single day. Maybe he wanted to knock, but never find the strenght to do that, who knows. Somewhere in his heart Taehyun wanted him to knock, to enter the room and hug him. Because Taehyun was afraid, and he knew that. What if Kai decided to leave, as Jungkook already did? He was full of doubts, questions and he was aware that neither him or Hyuka had an answer. Many times he thought he had to do something. But what? 

On the last day of the third week, he finally heard a knock. Still, Taehyun stayed silent.

**Fourth week**

From that day on, Kai knocked every single day.

On the first day, he brought his favorite snack. “I know you like it, Tae, should we eat together?” but then left after a while.

On the second day, he came back. “Can we talk, Tae? Please.” he whispered, leaving again.

On the third day, same story. “You know, i just came out with a nickname, finally. Tyun, do you like that? It’s cute, like you, even if you don’t want me to say it.” 

The fourth day he could hear his back on the door.

“If you don’t want to talk to me, then I will talk to you. I’m sorry if I kissed you, I am. I know how to feel sorry, even if I’m an android. But I really thought you were the most good looking guy in the room, I always think so, wherever we are. Sorry to bother you.” 

The fifth day, he did the same.

“You know, Tyun, I know what you think about androids, Yeonjun told me. I am not human, and I’ll never be, I’m an android. But I want to become the best android I can be, for you. You are special to me, you really are. Not as a lover, you are Taehyun, my Taehyunie. I don’t want this to change.” his words moved something in the human, he couldn’t explain what.

Still the next day no one came.

The seventh day, last day of the month, he heard a noise at his door.

“Taehyun, I think I’m broken. My face keeps losing liquids, and I don’t know why. Please don’t send me back today. I don’t want to leave you, let’s fix me together but don’t send me back, I’ll try and stop loving you but please don’t make me leave you..” he heard.

Kai was crying, his android was crying. That was the moment he knew he couldn’t hide anymore, the moment he knew Kai wasn’t just iron and steel.  In that precise moment, Taehyun knew he was hopelessly in love with Huening Kai, and there was no going back. 

He rushed out of the door, looking at the android face full of surprise. Before Kai could say a single word, the shorter stood on his tiptoes and captured his face between his hands, trapping the taller’s lips in a kiss, something he maybe had been avoiding for far too long. When they separated, he finally spoke, after days and days “I’m sorry, Hyuka, I don’t want send you back, I would never, I didn’t want you to cry.” he said hugging him tight, the robot holding him softly.

“Can we go down and spend some time together? Please? I missed you.” Kai whispered shyly, making the other smile a bit “Of course, we’ve got a drama to watch.”. And they did, hugging on the sofa, as they did when Kai had just arrived. Some time later, Kai was surprised by another kiss by his human, blushing a bit.

“What was this for?” he asked, the other pointing at the clock. Midnight.

“A month is passed, you can’t leave now.” 

“Never intended to do so.”

**Epilogue**

“Kang Taehyun?” he heard a voice calling him “Jungkook hyung?”.

The older boy smiled, approaching him: “Long time no see, Taehyunie, how are you?” he asked, as he never left “Doing fine, when did you come back?”.

“Oh, just visiting, I’m here with my boyfriend, he wanted to buy something.” somehow he was expecting this kind of answer “What about you? I never thought you were the toy type.” he said, looking at the many plushies in the shop. Before Taehyun could answer, a very tall familiar android ran in their direction, holding a big bunny “Tyun, can I buy this? I know I have too many of those, but look at how cute he is- oh, hello.” Kai stopped, greeting Jungkook.

“Oh, it’s fine. You could have told me you were here with a friend.” 

“He’s my boyfriend, actually.” Taehyun answered blushing, Kai smiling proudly. Jungkook smiled too, hearing then his name called by some boy. He greeted the two and Kai hugged the human.

“You could’ve told him I’m your android, but you chose boyfriend.” he teased him, Taehyun snorting “I know, and they’re both true. I chose the label I like the most.”.

“So, can I buy the bunny?” 

“Yes, baby, you can buy the bunny.”

**Author's Note:**

> hi again ♡ hope you enjoyed my work ,,  
> this is the first english au i write so please have mercy since it's not my first language  
> find me on tumblr : [thenightchapter](https://thenightchapter.tumblr.com/)  
> and twt : [reveursbin](https://twitter.com/reveursbin)  
> 


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